The Facebook debacle & other issues

24 minutes ago, RozenGermain said:

Again, DC wants brownie points lol!

I dunno if this would really be a brownie points thing. I've had people sarcastically/rudely comment whether my dolls were voodoo dolls/haunted/etc because people can't be nice about anything out of the social norm. Probably just a joke along those lines? I know I've joked my dolls were haunted when people were rude before, though I've never tried saying they were voodoo dolls lol. 

16 hours ago, Thespian said:

You are assuming that most of his buyers are "in the know" with regards to his antics here.

For the record, I agree that we should hold our ethics and values above our desire to own a luxury product (I bought my SmD right before the whole Nazi imagery thing happened and to this day, playing with her leaves a sour taste in my mouth). Do not let my criticism of this point in particular lead you to believe that I disagree with you on that front.

I personally know several SmartDoll owners, both on other platforms and in real life, who have never followed his twitter/instagram or the broader community. I don't believe it would be a stretch to say that most of his buyers go to his website, pick a doll they like, and buy it without thinking too much about the "who" and "how" of his broader operation, especially since he explicitly markets himself to those new to the hobby and offers more diversity than his competitors. It does, in fact, matter when an uneducated layman is looking to buy a doll, particularly their first doll(s). It matters when it's a parent looking to buy a doll that looks like their child. It matters when performative diversity for capitalistic reasons is the canary in the coal mine for how the broader public feels about our communities.

These things do not matter to you because you know what Danny has done and it is (rightfully) a deal breaker. I will never purchase a SmartDoll directly from Danny again because I cannot make that kind of a concession on my personal ethics. But it is also a cruel assumption to believe that everyone who purchases a SmartDoll knows what he has done and has elected to purchase anyway.

Basically. I had to come to this forum, to this thread, to actually learn more about these less than ideal policies and behaviors. If more people are showing their discontent over DC's recent antics or are slowly switching over to DD then that's news to me. I personally became disillusioned when he put out the BLM post and I found his response to the criticism off putting. So the moral and ethics issues were in my mind, but I hated how his business model (which I thought was pretty nice at first) devolved into needing to use secret passwords and trying to figure out how to properly appease his ego so that an order wasn't denied. But apparently either a lot of people want the doll bad enough or they literally do not know what's going on. And I do think that some people are so enamored with the SmD veneer of diversity and inclusion that they miss the nuances (or in most cases, the blatant antagonism on the part of DC) or they really do think that there's a large group of ungrateful, entitled, meanies trying to bring him down or something equally ridiculous. It is a huge shame that he is the company that is showcasing diversity in skin color and body types...and I wish there was a competitor that offered similar dolls. But it is tiring to keep seeing this oversensitive response to when he inevitably does something very tone deaf. It's been years, by now getting PR person should have happened but apparently it was never enough to hurt his business. 

18 hours ago, Serena said:

I dunno if this would really be a brownie points thing. I've had people sarcastically/rudely comment whether my dolls were voodoo dolls/haunted/etc because people can't be nice about anything out of the social norm. Probably just a joke along those lines? I know I've joked my dolls were haunted when people were rude before, though I've never tried saying they were voodoo dolls lol. 

the people at the con, seemed curious. I get asked about mine, and I get complaments. Some people mistake mine for a real child lol. 

Edited February 4 by DollyDearest

I haven't posted or lurk here for a while, but I still have no obligation to support Culture Japan or DC's business after seeing his negativity and those large paragraphs of his passive aggressive consents to agree to buy his Smart Dolls and accessories. I have no problems seeing BJD collectors have Smart Dolls in their collection.

But as for me, I was a former Smart Doll owner of just Mirai at the time, I still refuse to own or even buy a Smart Doll directly from his online store or from third party shops, and/or previous owners. Since it is still under DC's name and brand, even though you can ignore him and try to separate the SmDs from his name. The creator of Smart Doll is at it again, huh? I'm still not surprised, no wonder I see some disillusioned former Smart Doll owners trying to get rid of their Smart Dolls recently.

Which is why I'm glad to have moved on to Volks Dollfie Dream and their BJDs.

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 12:08 AM by ZandurFox

I mentioned Figufoto before and I'm not surprised other established SmD fans are getting rid of theirs too....  In hindsight I'm honestly glad that SmD had only ever been 1/3 scale and intimidated me as a result (my preferred size is 1/4 scale for a reason lol, big but not overwhelmingly so).

Yes, I’ve recently seen some Smart Doll listings on Ebay and Mercari for sale.

It is more than before and no offense, I actually want to see Culture Japan and his Smart Doll business shut down or being taken over by a more responsible and mature business owner and creator!!

 

 

I Entertained Dreams of some day having an SD Mirai of my very own, for Years on End... 

Turns out just as well that i Ended up settling on an AZONE "Happiness Clover" Girl instead;
 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:04 PM by Tasuke

Okay, maybe I’m a conspiracy theorist, but I think Danny is really manipulating the stock numbers. I’m honestly not surprised.  

When the ‘in stock’ feature rolled out it was great and I really appreciated it, most dolls had 10-20 available for every model, particularly Mirai and new launches.  

Then this happened:https://x.com/solarmarinex/status/1877222510120284643?s=46

“Last night stock levels for many items were set to 5 units, even if the actual number of available items was much higher. These items seem to restock (automatically?) when they drop to one item left. Obviously it makes assessing real stock levels impossible. You can still check how many items were in stock before this change. Just go to inventory overview page and look at the graphs or find the item you want in timeline and look for a sudden drop in stock levels.
We’ll see what this is all about but now it looks like an anti-customer change that makes understanding if any product is really about to sell out very difficult. Uncertainty gives rise to FOMO.“ 

- solarmarinex on Twitter on 1/8/2025

(Also note, this is right after the Christmas rush) 

I noticed this too. All dolls are marked at an inventory of 5 or less, I found one with 6 but it was the outlier. I know he’s busy on other projects but I have doubts that he’s only got 3 Mirai in stock. 

It’s his company and he’s free to do what he wishes but I’m a little disappointed to think that this feature that was helpful is now a new FOMO tactic instead of a way to actually help customers make decisions about good times to purchase things. The ‘buy it or wait unspecified amounts of time for it to return’ is really a bug in the smart doll business model in my opinion, not a feature. Although this move makes me feel that Danny sees it as the latter. Even a lottery system would be kinder than blatantly lying about stock. 

He may claim stock really is lower due to Cortex and boy doll development but I don’t buy it, especially with Mirai. Similarly his timeline is now shot in such a way as to imply scarcity. Photos from 2025 January and February feature maybe 5 of each product if it’s a collection shot (and not the stands), where as December and November of 2024 feature several images with enormous stocks of items, most notably clothing and Limitless painted heads. 

Anyway, all that to say: I hope he brings back accurate stock counts. FOMO starts to wear people out on a hobby and there’s really no reason to try to squeeze FOMO money out of loyal fans without real reason. I have many friends for example who dropped out of the TCG scene altogether because of all the FOMO drama with card. 

That’s my two cents and conspiracy. Thoughts? Why is this not mentioned by creators who are watching these stock numbers like a hawk? 

PlasticJester mentioned Lammily before in reference to SmD and how both seem to be peddling representation for brownie points and moral posturing, and uh... Yeah I found this video on Lammily and I think it's perfect as a comparison! Though if you ask me DC's motivation for creating SmD was very different! Lammily is even more of a vanity project if you ask me, but both Lamm and current Danny are basically more into brownie points than actually appealing to doll enthusiasts.

 

 

43 minutes ago, RozenGermain said:

PlasticJester mentioned Lammily before in reference to SmD and how both seem to be peddling representation for brownie points and moral posturing, and uh... Yeah I found this video on Lammily and I think it's perfect as a comparison! Though if you ask me DC's motivation for creating SmD was very different! Lammily is even more of a vanity project if you ask me, but both Lamm and current Danny are basically more into brownie points than actually appealing to doll enthusiasts.

I was really into Monster High back when Lammily was first introduced and boy, did my community have THOUGHTS about it.

Danny does have a 1-up on Lamm, though, in that Lamm was largely opposed to making pretty, fashionable clothes for his doll. Not to be entirely sarcastic, but the whole point of fashion dolls is to put them in some kind of fashion, which Lamm was more or less diametrically opposed to. Lammily was also atypically sized for a fashion doll, so unless you knew how to sew your own doll clothes, you were SOL on finding anything to dress her in that wasn't frumpy and blah.

Danny, to his credit, has taken the time to create lines of clothing that are aesthetically appealing to at least some of his target audience and made dolls close enough in size to established doll brands that they can share some clothing.

I have always considered SmDs to be splitting the difference between playline fashion dolls and luxury vinyl BJDs in a way that feels very accessible for newbies looking to get their feet wet. There is a reason that a lot of SmD customizer YouTubers make videos about making "big Bratz/Barbies" and the like.

10 hours ago, Tasuke said:

 

I Entertained Dreams of some day having an SD Mirai of my very own, for Years on End... 

Turns out just as well that i Ended up settling on an AZONE "Happiness Clover" Girl instead;
 

  Hide contents

 

 

 

Oh how pretty! I haven't seen many 1/3 Azone dolls, and yours is lovely.

8 hours ago, cinnabunroll said:

Oh how pretty! I haven't seen many 1/3 Azone dolls, and yours is lovely.

 

She's my very first Third-Scaled Girl. i got her at Base MSRP + DHL Shipping since she was Shelf-Warming since her 2022 Release.

I Got Lucky; i Suspect. She could very well end up being my only 1/3 Girl... so i Really Wanted her to be Special.

Her Bust may be a bit generous for my ideal personal tastes... but i am managing to grow fond enough of them all the same.

 She Really is a Complete ♥Treasure♥ for me... Breasts and All~

 

Steering back towards Topic; Mirai-chan always will have an Adorable, very special little Face♥

it is a Crying Shame that her Father seems to have become DARTH VADER for the time being...

Edited 10 hours ago by Tasuke

21 hours ago, Thespian said:

I was really into Monster High back when Lammily was first introduced and boy, did my community have THOUGHTS about it.

Danny does have a 1-up on Lamm, though, in that Lamm was largely opposed to making pretty, fashionable clothes for his doll. Not to be entirely sarcastic, but the whole point of fashion dolls is to put them in some kind of fashion, which Lamm was more or less diametrically opposed to. Lammily was also atypically sized for a fashion doll, so unless you knew how to sew your own doll clothes, you were SOL on finding anything to dress her in that wasn't frumpy and blah.

Danny, to his credit, has taken the time to create lines of clothing that are aesthetically appealing to at least some of his target audience and made dolls close enough in size to established doll brands that they can share some clothing.

I have always considered SmDs to be splitting the difference between playline fashion dolls and luxury vinyl BJDs in a way that feels very accessible for newbies looking to get their feet wet. There is a reason that a lot of SmD customizer YouTubers make videos about making "big Bratz/Barbies" and the like.

That, plus dark skinned vinyl dolls give him a bit of a niche that is still basically untapped outside of mildly Imomodoll. It sucks because I think it shouldn't be a niche in the first place, it just is because diverse skin tones are sadly underrepresented among luxury BJDs in general, and the same with diverse body types. Heck, with the Pear SmD bodies, they're an atypical size by default, so you need to sew your own doll clothes in a way, cause you're gonna have a hard time finding say, a cocktail dress unless it's from a third party seller that works with Pear SmDs. I do think that a more accessible luxury vinyl BJD is a niche worth filling though. I do think Azone does that a bit with their larger dolls actually. In fact, I'd say Azone's Iris Collect and Happines Clover lines are basically the only competition Danny even has in that specific market niche.

I have to wonder what Monster High fans had to say about Lammily? Cause Monster High was more of an anti-Barbie on the surface-level with the goth-appealing monster girls contrasting Barbie's more hyperfeminine aesthetics, but in practice Lammily was just as much the anti-MH as it was the anti-Barbie, and Monster High was Barbie's goth girlfriend line! XD